Third ECCE forum discusses findings of child development screening test |02 July 2016

Childhood development in Seychelles is taking place at a level considered normal and in some cases children are performing certain developmental activities before the appropriate age, a study has found.

A pilot study to analyse the usefulness of the Denver Development Screening Test (DDST) which Maternal Child Health (MCH) nurses have been administering to children of different ages up to six years since the 1990s, was conducted mid to end of last year by the Institute of Early Childhood Development (IECD).

In its third Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) forum yesterday at the STC conference hall, the IECD brought together child development professionals, nurses, parents, and other stakeholders to discuss and analyse the findings of the study.

The chief executive of the IECD Shirley Choppy launched the discussions.

Dr Conrad Shamlaye, a consultant working with the IECD, made a presentation on the DDST which he said is only a component of child health and development useful to alert parents and caregivers of possible developmental problems in children.

The IECD conducted the pilot study of the DDST in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and technical support of a specialist.

Egbert Benstrong, a consultant working on the study, said records of 476 children of different ages up to six years from six health centres around the country were gathered from which a random sample of 224 children were picked and that was shortlisted to 28 children whose recorded data met the necessary requirements of the study.

“This shows clearly that the manner data are collected in this regard is not to the required standard. If when collecting data some information is missing and there is no indication in some instances which states whether the child had passed the test or not, this can seriously affect selection for analysis and studies like the one at hand. It is therefore crucial for people administering the tests to ensure all data are entered correctly,” Mr Benstrong stressed.

Mr Benstrong said the views of a sample of parents on the importance of the DDST, their knowledge of it, its importance for child development were also sought.

While they attached a lot of importance to the DDST because they recognise it is important for the development of their children, many of the parents themselves have very little or no knowledge of the DDST even though they admitted having received some information about it.

Dr Andre Leste, the director and programme coordinator at the IECD who presented some of the findings, said all the information gathered on the test will give the institute the opportunity to explore ways to improve and strengthen data collection relating to the DDST thus leading to better monitoring of child development and progress. 

He added that the findings will also be a means to better guide policy-makers and parents on child development.

“Up to now the findings show our children are performing well but we should pay more attention to components of the test where information is missing as this affects interpretation of finding,” Dr Leste pointed out.

Dr Leste, whose presentation on the findings of the DDST focused mostly on a group of nurses who conduct the tests in the health centres, said the IECD is concerned about what they revealed namely the fact that they work in environment not conducive to administering the test, many of them have not received formal training thus raising some doubt on the quality and content of their training, a lack of components of the DDST kit such as instruction manuals, among others.   

It is anticipated that some of the recommendations and ideas from the discussions would be used in planning a main study with a whole new cohort of children.